Things We Can See
by nicolethegreat
Summary: Things that never happened involving a certain Remus Lupin in his Hogwarts days and after.
1. Numbers One Through Five

_**number one: what bite?**_

Remus was facing Grayback. His young face was frozen over with fear and nothing but that fear was showing through it. Grayback's mouth was open wide and his teeth were showing through. Remus was backing up at a rapid speed with Grayback going just the tiniest bit slower. "Get a...awa...away from me!" he yelled at the werewolf in what just had to be the weakest voice there ever was.

"Who do you think you are talking to, little boy?" the werewolf replied. "Louder! Stronger! Mean it! Prove me wrong, weakling!" He advanced towards his pray. His eyes were lit up with the thought of a new meat joining his pack. Someone so young would be nothing but the best to train to be the perfect slave.

"Leave me alone!" Remus yelled in a stronger, louder voice that sounded more of a man's than of a child's. "Leave me alone!" he yelled even louder.

The werewolf gave a smile so devious that it could have scared any person no matter how old out of their skin. Remus jumped backwards. The werewolf winked and ran the opposite way. Remus escaped the bite of a werewolf...for now.

_**number two: what james?**_

James Potter was known to be a bit...over the top. He could be extreme in his strange ways of treatment to the other students. It was this particular day that James was walking by him in the hall with his wand sticking out of his shirt. It was still early in the school year of their first year. Neither knew the other well but they already had formed a slight rivalry on the first day when Remus had hit on Lily Evans and Remus had made fun of him for it.

Remus didn't see anything wrong in the way, not that he was paying much attention. He was nearly late for charms and who knew what would happen if he would be late for that class! His not paying attention cost him a lot of embarrisment. James waved his wand and muttered a quick spell that his father had taught him before he went off to Hogwarts. The next step that Remus took he tripped over his shoes that had become tied _as if by magic_.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, looking around to see who did it. "James Potter," he muttered under his breath. Remus withdrew his wand and aimed it at James before he remembered that he didn't know any spells that would work against anyone yet. He turned around and ran off to charms with thoughts of revenge on his mind.

_**number three: what dance?**_

Remus bent forwards and held out his hand to the girl in front of him. _Revenge reached, James Potter, _he thought bitterly in his head. Lily Evans looked over her shoulder at the boy behind her. With a smug grin, she took Remus's hand and let him lead her out to the dance floor.

"Why are you doing this?" Lily asked cautiously in a low whisper as she allowed herself to be twirled in the typical wizarding fashion of the dance – in the air with the small help of a charm.

The first year boy looked at the girl in his arms in a panic. What did she know?

Another twirl came with silence from Remus. "Not that I mind," Lily continued. "Potter over there looks devastated. I was glad for the excuse of a reason not to go to the annual Valentine's Dance with him." She bent her head down so that she was looking at her feet instead of at the boy in front of her.

Remus let out a small laugh. "Glad to be of service," he told her, grinning. "I was trying to get back at Potter for tripping me on our first day of Hogwarts." A light blush came over his cheeks. "I mean –" he coughed.

Lily leaned forwards and put her lips to his ear. "So we're using each other. Might as well give Potter a show," she whispered. Before Remus could even ask what that was supposed to mean, the two first year students exchanged a glance and he knew what it was about. He grinned slightly and Lily turned her head so that her left cheek was facing him. He leaned forwards and kissed it lightly.

_**number four: what kiss?**_

Now he was paying for it and he knew that, he did, but he hated it.

"You kissed her. I can't believe that you kissed her," Sirius said. He threw his arms up in the air at the trembling boy in front of him. "And James saw! Do you know what's going to happen now?"

Remus shook his head. "On the cheek. I kissed her on the cheek!"

Sirius sighed. "James didn't say that. Liar. You're a liar."

Remus abruptly stood up from where he was standing. "You want to know what I did to Lily? Well, here it goes," he said angrily. He walked the metre between the two of them and held Sirius's head firmly so that the boy could not escape. In a matter of seconds, he placed his lips on the other boy's cheek and took them off. As soon as he had taken his hands off of the side of Sirius's face, Sirius jumped backwards and wiped his cheek continuously with the sleeve of his robe.

"Ew! Gross! We don't do that, Lupin. We're guys. Guys don't kiss guys," Sirius informed him.

"Well, that's all I did to Lily and Lily is a girl so there."

A gasp came from the doorway and both boys looked over to where it had come from. James Potter was standing there, mouth agape and a fist clenched over his wand.

Sirius lept over to the boy. "How much did you see?"

Potter's eyes opened widely. "Enough."

_**number five: what severus?**_

James was running away after the incident in the dorm room. After exiting the dorm, going through the common room, and running down the stairs towards the exit of the school (for he needed fresh air after what he had just witnessed), he somehow managed to run right in to Severus Snape. His head collided with the other boy's back, causing both of them to fall backwards.

"Snape. Trying to steal my girl from me?" James asked, noticing the girl that was staring at the two boys in a heap on the ground.

"Potter," Severus scowled. He shook his head. "Your friend Lupin seems to be doing a good enough job of that without my help." He shrugged, stood up, wiped his hands across his robes to remove any dirt, and turned back to the girl that was watching them.

From where she was standing, Lily shook her head. "Severus and I were just catching up. And nothing happened between Remus and myself. You should know that, Potter." She spat at the end of his name and turned her nose to face towards the Black Lake. "And since when have I been your girl? I can't stand you, Potter." She shook her head once again and began walking in the opposite direction.

James and Severus exchanged confused looks.

And from where he was standing in his dorm room window, overlooking the entire scene that was laid out in front of him, Remus Lupin let out a large sigh. It was obvious that Lily was in to the two boys more than she was in to him.


	2. Numbers Six Through Ten

_**number six: what love?**_

"You love her, don't you?" Sirius asked from where he was seated on his bed, watching Remus as he watched James, Lily, and Severus.

"It was only a dance. It meant nothing." Remus left his post at the window and walked over to his bed. "I'm only twelve. I can't know what love is…" he trailed off. He looked down at his hands and felt his wand, wanting more than ever to be able to do some sort of grand magic scheme and get the girl.

Sirius shrugged. "James seems to know what love is. He loves Lily. Severus, too. Severus loves Lily, too."

The other boy shook his head but said nothing more. Nothing more needed to be said. Three students of the ages of eleven and twelve were all in love with the same girl and she couldn't care less about any of them. The reality hit hard.

_**number seven: what meeting?**_

It wasn't until around the middle of their fifth year of Hogwarts that Remus finally decided to ask Lily out on a date. James had asked her at least once a week, every week since they had started attending the school so he felt like he had no chance when he asked but he decided to anyways. With a quick reminder to himself not to make too much of a fool of himself, Remus gulped down another cup of pumpkin juice and walked down to Lily and a few of her friends at the end of the Gryffindor table.

He tapped her on the back of her shoulder, causing her to turn to face him. "Can we talk?" he asked her quietly. She gave him a slight nod and motioned to her friends that she would be back soon.

Remus cautiously took her hand and walked her out of the Great Hall to a hallway with only students who were rushing to get to breakfast on time. It was quiet but as he passed his friend James Potter, he saw a scowl across his face.

Once they were in the hallway, Remus let go of Lily's hand. "I've liked you since we were first years," he admitted, trying to avoid her eyes. "And there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon. I was wondering if you'd like to go with me? On a date?" He reached behind his head with his hand and scratched at his hair.

Cautiously, the boy looked up and in to the girl's eyes. She was smiling. "I'd love to. Meet me in the common room before breakfast and we'll make a day out of it."

"Sure," Remus answered. After he nodded, the girl had skipped out of his view back in to the Great Hall.

_**number eight: what fight?**_

James was fuming. After he had seen Remus take Lily out of the Great Hall with the determined yet nervous look on his face, he could only assume what was going on and the small frown on Sirius's face showed him that his guess was nothing short of accurate.

After classes had ended for the day and quidditch practice had been cancelled because of rain, the boy went back to his dorm room, determined to get back at _that Lupin kid_ for all he was worth. They had been the best of friends alongside with Peter and Sirius. And besides, you didn't even have to be friends with James to know that he was absolutely in love with Lily Evans. Even the Hufflepuffs, who stayed out of the business of Gryffindors as much as possible, knew. It was the least secretive secret out there. 

And so, Remus was going to pay.

James had not been surprised to see that Remus was already back to the dorm when he reached it. Remus was always in the dorm or on the grounds and since it was raining, the grounds were not somewhere where he would be voluntarily.

"You asked my girl out," James said, getting straight to the point.

Remus shrugged his shoulders. "She kept saying no to you. She said yes to me on the first try. Besides, you knew that I am in love with her too. Just like you know that Severus loves her." Remus picked up his potions book from the side of his bed and put it in his lap with a pile of parchment and his quill and ink so that he could begin homework. Before he even had the chance to open his book, however, James had his wand out and was lifting the ink up above Remus' head by way of _wingardium leviosa_.

Another spell removed the bottle's cap and a third tipped the bottle over on top of Remus' head.

Lupin looked at the other boy with pure shock written across his face. "What was that for, Potter?" He took his wand out of his pocket and cleaned his hair off before it had the chance to get on to his robes. Once clean, he closed his book with a loud slam and lept up on his bed.

"This isn't about me asking out the girl that you like and you know it," he said, walking closer and closer to James and he spoke. "This is about her agreeing to go out with me while she's turned you down over two hundred times." He walked out of the room and as he passed James, he made sure to slam their shoulders together. "I'm going to the library while you cool down."

_**number nine: what date?**_

He had picked her up in the Gryffindor common room and they had gone to breakfast in the Great Hall together. They had walked the distance to Hogsmeade together, trying their best to ignore the fact that James was following them the entire way. And after a quick round to all of the shops, they had ended up in The Three Broomsticks, both with a bottle of Butterbeer in their hands, talking away.

Remus confessed his love of Lily to her and she returned it, stating that since their Valentines Dance date in their first year, she had been waiting for him to ask her out again, repeating that she had no feelings for James and being careful to say that none of her feelings for Severus were in any way romantic.

As the time came near for them to head back to Hogwarts, Remus took Lily's hand and lead her out of The Three Broomsticks, a huge grin on his face and James stalking the two of them out, nearly in tears, with Sirius next to him, trying to comfort him.

Remus looked back once with a concerned face and was urged onwards by Sirius.

When they arrived at the castle, still hand in hand, Remus opened the doors for Lily with his wand. And when they got to the portrait leading in to the common room, he helped her in. It all lead up to when they got to the staircase leading to the girls dormitories, where Remus let go of her hand and leaned inward, placing a kiss on her lips and agreeing that they should go out on another date soon. Another kiss and she left to her dorm, just as James had walked in with Sirius right behind.

_**number ten: what engagement?**_

Remus bent down on one knee. He and Lily had been out of high school for four years now and they had been dating for just less than seven. They had graduated together, both gotten jobs at the ministry, and had been living together for two years, so what he was doing was no surprise to anyone, much less to James and Sirius who he still kept in constant contact with, despite the falling out they had had in their fifth year when Remus and Lily had started dating.

He dug in to his pocket and held the ring out to the girl in front of him. "Lily Evans, I love you. I always have, since the Valentine's Dance in our first year at Hogwarts, when we only went together to go against James." They both laughed. "Will you marry me?"

The proposal was simple but then again, so were they. Lily agreed eagerly to marry Remus (there was something about the name Lily Lupin that she loved for some reason, she claimed, before saying "I love you" and kissing him).

Because that was what it was – love.


End file.
